As big cats go hungry, Indonesia zoo considers ‘worst-case’ deer cull

BANDUNG, Indonesia (Reuters) – A zoo in Indonesia may slaughter some of its animals to feed others, such as a Sumatran tiger and a Javan leopard, if it runs out of food in coming months after the coronavirus pandemic forced it to shut it doors.

Raja, a 17-year-old African lion, is seen at a zoo amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Bandung, West Java Province, Indonesia, May 18, 2020. REUTERS/Ajeng Dinar Ulfiana

While its 850 animals are being fed smaller portions than usual, the zoo is contemplating a “worst-case scenario” of culling some animals to feed others as it expects to run out of food in July.

The Badung zoo in Indonesia’s fourth-biggest city, which usually earns about 1.2 billion rupiah ($81,744) a month from visitors, shut on March 23 as part of a wider country lockdown to try to contain the outbreak.

“We have around thirty dotted deer, and we have identified the old and unproductive ones (who can no longer breed) to be slaughtered to save the carnivores, such as the Sumatran tiger and Javan leopard,” said zoo spokesman Sulhan Syafi’i.

Some birds including geese may also be culled, he said.

Big cats, including a critically endangered Sumatran tiger named Fitri, now get 8 kg (18 lb) of meat every two days, down from 10 kg previously.

The zoo needs more than 400 kg of fruit per day and 120 kg of meat every other day, Syafi’i said, noting it is now relying on donations to keep its animals alive.

“The crocodiles are fatter and the tigers are healthier too. But the lion is still a bit skinny,” said Fauzan Dzulfikar, who was allowed to visit after a donation.

The smaller daily portions have not gone unnoticed by the animals, even though Syafi’i said they still met minimum animal welfare standards.

Orangutan keeper Aep Saepudin said the endangered primates can go into a rage and throw things.

“The food is finished, but they still want to eat,” said Saepudin.

The Indonesia Zoo Association, which has requested help from President Joko Widodo, estimates 92 percent of the country’s 60 zoos can only feed their animals until the end of May.

With a knack for storytelling, Evan started News Brig about a year ago. Covering substantial topics under the Sports,, he helps information seep in deeper with creative writing and content management skills.

Killing of Palestinian with autism a “tragedy”

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday called the deadly police shooting of an unarmed Palestinian man with autism a “tragedy,” although he stopped short of apologizing for the incident.

Netanyahu’s remarks were the first he’s made since police in Jerusalem’s Old City shot and killed Eyad Hallaq last week. The 32-year-old Palestinian with severe autism was chased by Israeli border police forces into a nook in Jerusalem’s Old City and fatally shot as he cowered next to a garbage bin after apparently being mistaken for an attacker.

The shooting has drawn comparisons to the death of George Floyd in the U.S. and prompted a series of small demonstrations against police violence toward Palestinians. Some Israeli figures have paid condolence visits to the grieving Hallaq family.

At last week’s Cabinet meeting, a day after the shooting, Defense Minister Benny Gantz, who is also Israel’s “alternate” prime minister under a power-sharing deal, apologized for the incident. Netanyahu, seated next to him, made no mention of it in his remarks at the time.

“What happened with the Hallaq family, with Eyad Hallaq, is a tragedy. A person with disabilities, with autism, who was suspected we now know unjustly of being a terrorist in a very sensitive place,” Netanyahu said Sunday. “We all share in the grief of the family.”

Netanyahu said he was awaiting police examinations of the event, but unlike Gantz did not apologize. Israel’s Justice Ministry has said two officers have been placed under house arrest, but gave no further details.

Police said that officers in the Old City spotted a man carrying a “suspicious object that looked like a pistol.” When the man failed to heed calls to stop, police said they opened fire and “neutralized” him after a chase in a volatile area that has seen several previous attacks.

The shooting came two weeks after another fatal shooting of an Arab man outside an Israeli hospital. According to police, the man was shot after stabbing a security guard. Security camera footage showed the man, who reportedly suffered from mental illness, lying on the ground when he was shot multiple times.

For Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and contested east Jerusalem, and members of Israel’s Arab minority, these cases reflect what they see as Israeli forces’ loose trigger fingers when it comes to dealing with Arab suspects.

Hallaq’s death, in particular, has reverberated across Israel, with his image raised on signs at a demonstration in Tel Aviv Saturday night against Israeli plans to annex parts of the West Bank. “This is what occupation looks like,” read signs bearing Hallaq’s image.

Inspired by the protests in the U.S., demonstrators held signs reading “Palestinian Lives Matter” and photographs of Hallaq alongside Floyd.

Lone Palestinian attackers with no clear links to armed groups have carried out a series of stabbings, shootings and car-ramming attacks in recent years.

Palestinians and Israeli human rights groups have long accused Israeli security forces of using excessive force in some cases, either by killing individuals who could have been arrested or using lethal force when their lives were not in danger.

What it’s like to be a black NYPD sergeant in NYC

Sgt. Edmund Small, 46, is an NYPD veteran and a member of the executive board of the Sergeants Benevolent Association. Appointed to the NYPD in 1997, he was promoted to sergeant in 2005. He is currently assigned to the 70th Precinct in Brooklyn, the notorious stationhouse where cops sexually assaulted Haitian immigrant Abner Louima in 1997. Small tells The Post’s Dean Balsamini his story of what it’s like to be black and blue amid the nationwide furor following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

When I was 5 years old, I saw a woman being beaten by two men with a bed frame and an African-American police officer make the arrest. This is the reason I became a police officer. From that day forward, I have had a passion to help others. Shirley Chisholm once said, “Service is the rent you pay for room on this earth.” What better service is there than to help others?

I was born and raised in Brooklyn, the son of Jamaican immigrants. I’m a 22-year vet of the NYPD and face the challenges of being an African-American police officer every day. It’s like a balancing act. People see you more as being a part of the problem rather than part of the solution. Because I’m in my uniform, people’s biases make them forget that I am also a black man who also feels the effects of racism. Being a black man in America comes with its struggles — struggles that I am not exempt from just because I am a police officer.

I have faced racism on the job … even from fellow officers. The NYPD is a microcosm of our society so of course racism exists within it. I remember the experience of applying to be transferred to the elite Harbor Unit. An executive told me that I wouldn’t like Harbor because it “entailed swimming” and refused to sign my transfer. I believe that he was using his implicit bias about what he thought to be true about blacks and swimming in order to deny me an opportunity. It took an African-American chief to intervene and I was ultimately transferred.

In the 175 years of the NYPD, the department has had only two African-American police commissioners, two chiefs of patrol, and recently, only one chief of detectives. In my two decades with the NYPD, I have witnessed the slow progress in diversifying, not only the rank and file, but also the executive staff of the NYPD. There’s been positive change, it’s just been slow.

Sgt. Edmund SmallJames Keivom

When I saw the video of Mr. Floyd’s death I was sickened to see a man die at the hands of a police officer. I have patrolled some of the toughest streets in Brooklyn and have never kneeled on a person’s neck to gain compliance. As far as the NYPD’s response to the protests, as a law enforcement professional, I support people’s right to protest and I believe that the NYPD has taken appropriate actions towards the looters.

The biggest misconception the public and the media has is that “good cops” aren’t saying anything about the “bad cops.” Or, that when situations like these happen, all cops just side in agreement with the officer who did the unjust deed. The fact is, the genesis of the majority of internal investigations are from “good cops” reporting “bad cops” to the Internal Affairs Bureau.

I believe that reasonable police reforms will come out of this. Just like other professions, there needs to be a national standard for policing. Police departments from New York to Los Angeles should have the same standards. For example, the NYPD has banned choke holds, hog ties/positional asphyxiation. These reforms will help reduce situations like the one that led to the death of Mr. Floyd.

On the other hand, I don’t believe that the movement to defund police departments or emergency services is productive, as it will ultimately hurt the black and brown communities the most.

As an African-American police officer I realize that I can be a bridge between minority communities and law enforcement. We are here to help them and inspire them to one day join the force.

It’s important for the younger generation of black and brown children to see that all police are not bad, just like I did sitting on the stoop as a kid in East New York all those years.